As the number of swimming pools and spas increases, the need for effective tools to monitor and control pool water chemistry and especially sanitizer levels becomes more and more important. This is especially true in pools used by the public where the bather concentration is high and the threat of contagious diseases is always present. In order to control the harmful microorganism population of pools, it has been found over the years that chlorine is the most effective and economical sanitizer. However, as popular as chlorine is, it nevertheless has certain drawbacks which must be considered. A particularly serious problem associated with the use of chlorine in outdoor pools is that it tends to be destroyed by sunlight.
In this regard it has been found that the addition of cyanuric acid (2,4,6-trihydroxy-1,3,5-triazine) to the outdoor pool water can be effective as an extender or stabilizer for chlorine. However, the concentration must be rather carefully adjusted since too little obviously is ineffective as a stabilizer for the chlorine while too much can dramatically slow down the rate at which microorganisms are destroyed by the chlorine. It has been found that the effective concentration of cyanuric acid lies between 40 and 120 parts per million (ppm).
In order to maintain the effectiveness of the cyanuric acid in the swimming pool, it is necessary to measure the concentration thereof using a test device or concentration measuring system. The current test most commonly used in the swimming pool industry involves the melamine turbidimetric methodology. In this scheme, melamine is added to a sample of the pool water which in the presence of cyanuric acid causes the formation of a finely dispersed precipitate. The turbidity created by this precipitate formation is proportional to the amount of cyanuric acid present. By measuring this turbidity using visual or instrumental schemes, an estimation of the concentration of cyanuric acid can be obtained. This test however is not completely acceptable since turbidimetric methods tend in general to be unreliable in that other factors can cause turbidity and precipitates are obviously less homogenous that solutions.
For this reason, attempts have been made over the years to replace the turbidimetric analytical procedures with colorimetric methodolgies. To date, an acceptable, commercially available colorimetric method for determining cyanuric acid does not exist.